She has turned her attentions to bodybuilding after her confidence took a knock following her ordeal and is speaking out to raise awareness and show others there's always light at the end of the tunnel.

"I am not going to let this bring me down. I want to raise awareness and maybe if someone else hears this they will go and get checked and you never know, it could help someone else or even save a life," said Rebekah, who works part-time at Sugar Rays in Dundonald.

"I just do not want anyone else to have to go through what I did."

Rebekah's health took a turn for the worse last year, but she had previously complained to doctors about pains in her abdomen.

"I have always had wee pains with cramps and things but whenever I went to the doctor I was told it was normal ovulation stuff and it was part of being a woman," said Rebekah, who lives in Comber, Co Down.

"I was naive and thought if that's what the doctor said that's ok.

"I had my wee boy, he is four now, and I was still getting pains and I went back to the doctor and was told it was normal after having a child.

"It all started to get worse when I noticed a difference in my skin colour, it was a yellow, grey tinge and my hair started falling out and my eyeballs started going grey and bloodshot.

"Then in early June the pain became excruciating and I started being sick and passing out. My dad took me to the hospital, A&E at the Ulster and they took blood and urine samples. They said there's nothing wrong. I was told it was a burst cyst on my ovary and I would be fine, they gave me painkillers and I was sent home.

"I went home but it just got worse and worse to the point I could not walk. A few days later a friend called up and he found me lying on the sofa and he thought I was dead because my whole skin complexion was grey.

"He carried me to the car and took me to hospital. I passed out and vomited and was sent to the gynaecology ward for a two hour examination."

Rebekah said the examination was one of the worst experiences of her life

"I was screaming the place down and what they found was this massive dermoid cyst on my right ovary," she said.

"The reason I was so unwell was the cyst was starting to leak and it was about to explode.

"I was told if it was to explode it would have killed me.

"I was lucky. I was in denial about it all. They told me if I did not get this out I could die.

"It went from bad to worse, they said the ovary had to go. I was fighting with them to save it because I want more children but they said the ovary was completely dead and it had to go.

"I had surgery to remove the ovary and the pain was awful, childbirth was a walk in the park compared to that."

Rebekah had her surgery on June 14 last year and medics removed the cyst and her right ovary.

But still life did not return to normal for Rebekah who was left traumatised by the ordeal.

"Everything was going wrong and I was just not fun to be around, I could not get my head around what happened," she said.

"I had been going on for years about this and I was told there was nothing wrong but then I was told there was a chance I could die, leaving my wee man without me.

"It was hard to get my head around and it was bringing me down so much. On New Year's Eve I was with my sister who made me dinner as I did not want to go out. I was asking her why this had to happen to me and she turned and said 'Rebekah you are lucky to be alive and you can let this make you or break you'.